Since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December President Obama has made it clear he plans to take action on gun control this year.

The news has sent some nervous Americans flocking to gun shows, hoping to stock up before it's too late.

Vice President Joe Biden is leading the charge for more control as the Obama administration looks to pass new laws aimed at stopping gun violence. He's got plenty of allies in Congress.

Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., are among the growing chorus of politicians calling for tougher measures. The two are proposing new laws on background checks and preventing gun trafficking across state lines.

"The federal government has an obligation to act and prevent tomorrow's senseless deaths by ensuring that guns stay out of the hands of criminals and those who are dangerously ill," Gillibrand said.

So far, the Obama administration is proposing universal background checks for all gun buyers and tracking the movement and sale of weapons through a national database.

On the state level, lawmakers in California introduced new legislation this week to try to crack down on ammunition sales.

Gun control advocates use words like "reasonable" and "common sense reforms" to frame the debate. But that's no consolation to Americans who fear their Second Amendment rights are about to be taken away.

"The enemies of lawful gun ownership are using that tragedy to attempt to pass new and more strict regulations on guns," Bob Templeton, owner of the Crossroads of the West Auto Gun Show, said.

As a result, tens of thousands of people have been stocking up at gun shows and stores around the country.

"We know there's going to be some new laws," Andy Minnala, a new gun buyer at a show in Los Angeles, said. "And I had kind of put it off and put it off, but now we went ahead came on through to get what we wanted before everything's illegal."

At that gun show in Los Angeles, the crowds were so huge, the fire marshall had to be called in. Many gun stores across the country are having a hard time keeping firearms and ammunition in stock.

"We sold 50-something rifles in three days," one Ohio gun store owner said.

"I sold over 300 guns in two and a half weeks. We figured out every 15 to 20 minutes somebody came in and bought a gun," Mel Bernstein, a gun shop owner in Colorado, said.

In another sign of booming sales, gun background checks are through the roof. December 2012 hit a national record, as the FBI conducted 2.8 million background checks. That is up 49 percent from December 2011.

But even as demand for guns and ammunition spikes, some point out that new gun control laws are never a sure thing.